Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Chinook tribe for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students
and teachers to visit our main Chinook website
for in-depth information
about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with
Chinook pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

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Chinook Tribe

How do you pronounce the word "Chinook"? What does it mean?Chinook is pronounced "chih-nook." This is an English pronunciation of the Salishan place name Tsinuk, which was also the name used for the Chinook
Jargon trade language.

Where do the Chinooks live?
The Chinook Indians are original people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They live in present-day Washington and Oregon.

How is the Chinook Indian nation organized? Do they live on a reservation?
The Chinook Nation is not federally recognized by the United States. That means Chinook people do not have a reservation
or live on tribal lands. They live scattered throughout towns and villages in Oregon and Washington state. Although most Chinook people belong
to the Chinook Nation, not all of them do.
Some Chinook people have joined together with members of other Northwest Coast tribes in the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

In the past, each Chinook village was led by its own local chief or headman, who was always a high-ranking clan leader.
Today, the Chinook Indians are governed by a tribal council elected by all the people.

What language do the Chinook Indians speak?
Chinook people all speak English today. In the past, they spoke their native Chinook language, which was a complicated
language with many sounds that don't exist in English. Nobody speaks this
language anymore. But some elders still speak a second language, called the Chinook Jargon, which was a trade language
of the Northwest Coast that combined words and sounds from Chinook, Nootka, English, and other languages.
If you'd like to know an easy Chinook Jargon word, "klahowya" (pronounced klah-how-yuh) is a friendly greeting.

What was Chinook culture like in the past? What is it like now?
Here's a link to the homepage of the Chinook Nation.
There you can find information about the Chinook tribe in the past and today.

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How do Chinook Indian children live, and what did they do in the past?
They do the same things any children do--play with each other, go to school and help around the house.
Many Chinook children like to go hunting and fishing with their fathers. In the past, Indian kids had more
chores and less time to play, just like early colonial children. But they did have dolls,
toys and games to play. A form of lacrosse was a popular among teenagers as it was among adult men.
Like many Native Americans, Chinook mothers traditionally carried their babies in
cradleboards on their backs. Here are some pictures of Native American cradleboards.

What were men and women's roles in the Chinook tribe?
Chinook women gathered plants, herbs and clams and did most of the child care and cooking. Men were fishermen and hunters and sometimes went to war
to protect their families. Both genders took part in trade, storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. Chinook clan leaders could be either men
or women.

What were Chinook homes like in the past?
The Chinooks lived in coastal villages of rectangular cedar-plank houses. Usually these houses were large (up to 70 feet long) and
each one housed an entire extended family.
Here are some pictures of Indian houses like
the ones Chinook Indians used. Today, old-fashioned buildings like these are still made from cedar wood, but they are only used for ceremonial
purposes. Chinook people live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.

What was Chinook clothing like? Did they wear feather headdresses and face paint?
Chinook men didn't usually wear clothing at all, though some men wore a breech-clout.
Women wore short skirts made of cedar bark or grass. In the rain, the Chinooks wore tule rush capes, and in colder weather,
they wore fur robes and moccasins on their feet. Later, after European influence,
Makah people began wearing blanket robes. Here is a website on
Northwest Indian clothes and textiles,
and some photos and links
about Native American Indian costume in general.

The Chinooks didn't wear long headdresses like the
Sioux. Instead, both men and women sometimes wore a
basket hat made of finely woven spruce root.
The Chinooks sometimes painted their faces, using different designs for war, religious ceremonies, and mourning,
and women also wore tribal tattoos in geometric designs.
Most Chinook people wore their hair long and loose, though some women adopted other fashions like braids from neighboring tribes.
Here is a website with pictures of these Native hair styles.
Unlike men from some Northwestern tribes, Chinook men did not wear facial hair.

Today, some Chinook people still have a blanket cloak or basket hat, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths.

What was Chinook transportation like in the days before cars? Did they paddle canoes?
Yes--the Chinook Indian tribe made large dugout canoes by hollowing out cedar or fir logs.
The Chinook tribe used these canoes to travel up and down the sea coast for trading, fishing and hunting, and warfare.
Here is an article about Native American boats.
Today, of course, Chinook people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.

What was Chinook food like in the days before supermarkets?
The Chinook Indians were fishing people. Their staple food was salmon. Chinook men also caught many other kinds of fish and sea mammals
from their canoes and hunted deer, birds, and small game on land. Chinook women gathered clams and shellfish, seaweed, berries, and roots.
Here is a website with more information
about American Indian foods.

What were Chinook weapons and tools like in the past?
Chinook fishermen used harpoons and nets. Hunters used bows and arrows, and trappers set snares.
In war, Chinook men fired their bows or fought with spears and war clubs. Chinook warriors would wear armor made of hardened elk hide
to protect themselves from enemy archers.
Here is a website with pictures and more information about Indian weapons.

The Chinooks were known for their skill as traders.
Their most important trading partners were the Nootka,
Klamath, and Interior Salish tribes,
but their trade network extended all the way south to California and east to the Great Plains. Occasionally different Chinook bands would fight wars against
each other or against other Northwest Coast tribes, but mostly they remained dominant through trade and control over the Columbia river mouth.

What kinds of stories do the Chinook Indians tell?
There are lots of traditional Chinook legends and fairy tales. Storytelling is very important to the
Chinook Indian culture. Here is one Chinook legend about
the adventures of Coyote.
Here's a website where you can read more about Chinook mythology.

What about Chinook religion?
Religions are too complicated and culturally sensitive to describe appropriately
in only a few simple sentences, and we strongly want to avoid misleading anybody. You can visit this site to learn more about the
Chinook religion
or this site about Native American religion in general.

How do I cite your website in my bibliography?
You will need to ask your teacher for the format he or she wants you to use. The authors' names are Laura Redish and
Orrin Lewis and the title of our site is Native Languages of the Americas. We are a nonprofit educational organization
working to preserve and protect Native American languages and culture. You can learn more about our organization
here. Our website was first created in 1998 and last updated in
2015.

Thanks for your interest in the Chinook Indian people and their language!